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Chess
Chess is an extremely popular two-player game that is played throughout the world. People of any age can learn to play. History Chess is believed to have originated in India 1,400 years ago, as this was the earliest finding of chess pieces. However, artifacts that bear a resemblance to chess pieces have been found in Italy. Therefore, the true date is unknown. Chaturanga was the name of the game that the people of India played. When Buddhists came as missionaries to India, they took the game with them. Chaturanga continued to move through the countries, sometimes having it's name changed. When Persia received the game, it was named chatrang. Arabs conquered Persia and took their game, renaming it to shatrang. Spain and Sicily then got the game and brought it to western Europe. In Europe, shatrang became widely popular. During the Europian control of shatrang, its rules were changed. The queen and bishops were added to the boards, as the India version of the game had neither of these. In order to add excitement to the game, they added the rule of promotion. This new game became even more popular in Europe. In the nineteenth century, America learned of this great game. But even today, chess continues to be a widely popular game around the world. Rules This is a rough explanation of the rules of chess. While it does not delve into strategy, it is enough to get you started. Goal The goal of chess is to get your opponent's king into checkmate. Checkmate is when a king has no place to go without being in check. Check is when an opposing piece threatens a king. There are several pieces to help accomplish this feat, from the diagonal-moving bishop to the powerful queen. But first, you will learn about the pawn. Pawn While the pawn has no real special power, it is one of the strongest pieces in the game. You will learn why later. Setup The eight pawns are set on rows two and seven, as shown to the left. Movement The pawn can only move one space foward. It cannot move to the left or right. However, on its first move, a pawn can move two spaces, if it wishes. Capturing The pawn can only capture pieces that are diagonal to it. This is the only time that the pawn can move in a direction other than forward. For example, if your opponent's pawn is diagonal and to the left of your pawn, it can be captured by your own pawn. Special Moves The pawn has two "special" moves: En Passant and Promotion. Promotion is the word used to describe a pawn that changes rank. Promotion occurs when a pawn reaches the opposite end of the board. Once accomplishing this, a pawn can become a queen, or it can turn into a less powerful piece, like a knight, rook. or bishop. En Passant is a french word meaning "in passing." A pawn can move two squares on its first move, but an opponent's pawn can capture that pawn as if it had only moved one (id est the opponent's pawn can move into the empty square between the starting rank and the pawn that moved two squares to capture that pawn). Bishop Setup The bishop is placed on the first and eight rows (from the bottom) and on the third and sixth columns (from the left). Movement The bishop moves and captures in diagonals. It cannot jump other pieces. Knight The knight, when used properly, can be a very powerful piece. Setup Knights are placed on the first and eighth row, on the second and seventh columns. Movement Knights move and capture in L-shapes. That is, two spaces up or down and one space to the left or right, or two spaces to the left or right and one space up or down. Refer to the picture to the left if you do not understand. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces Rook Setup Rooks are set on the first and eighth row, on the first and eighth column. Movement Rooks move and capture vertically and horizontally. They cannot jump other pieces. Queen Queens are the strongest pieces in chess. Setup The queens are set up on the first and eighth column, and on the fourth column (from the left). If you have trouble remembering if the queen goes on the fourth or fifth column, remember: the queen is always on its color, meaning that a white queen will always start on the white space, and a black queen will always start on the black space. Movement Queens move diagonally, vertically, and horizontally. They cannot jump over other pieces. King The king must always be protected at all costs. If the king is under attack (id est it can be captured by the next turn) this is known as check. The king must either move away from check or have another piece taking or blocking the attacking piece, or the game ends in checkmate. Should there be no legal moves for a player and his king is not in check, the game ends in stalemate. Setup The king is placed on the first and eighth row and on the fifth column. Movement The king can move one space in any direction, as long as he is not moving into check. Castling The king may 'castle'. If there are no pieces between the king and a rook, and both the king and the rook has not moved yet, the king may move two squares towards the rook and the rook moves two or three squares so that it is adjacent to the king, and nearer the middle than the king is. This protects the king behind a row of pawns and allows the rook to attack.